


Stumbling into a New World

by Sharo



Category: Hermitcraft, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Admin powers, All the Hermits are great bros, Alternate Universe, Angst, Dubious minecraft physics, Gen, Hermits being Hermits, Hermits working together, Hurt/Comfort, I love Iskall's cackle, Voidwalker Xisuma, Xisuma loses his armor the fic, Xisuma needs a nap, and farming, and some fluff for kicks, end of Season Sixfinity, game typical violence, started this before the end of sixfinity, travelling to a new season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharo/pseuds/Sharo
Summary: The Hermits are ready for a new world, their last one full of builds and memories they are ready to leave behind. Even as they leave one by one and in groups, they all come together to greet the new world as a team.But this is not the world that they were expecting.It's not even their world.
Comments: 26
Kudos: 265





	Stumbling into a New World

**Author's Note:**

> I'm too lazy to break this into chapters. Enjoy!

"This isn't right." The air was heavy and thick, the light too bright, even under the canopy of trees he had spawned beneath. He took in the dark oak and oak trees around him even as he pulled out his beeping communicator. "We should have spawned on a beach island, what-"

Someone gasped behind him. He spun, finding ZombieCleo staring at him, her teal hands covering her mouth in shock.

"X, your armour!"

Xisuma looked down to his communicator, held in pale hands.  _ Bare _ hands.  _ No gloves, no armour. _ He blinked dumbly at them, brought a shaking hand to his forehead.  _ No helmet, how.. _

Cleo was talking again, but he was ignoring her, both hands back on the communicator, fingers flying over the keys as he sent queries to the world.  _ This isn't  _ our _ world, what went wrong? Where are my Hermits.. _

"Xisuma!" Cleo's hands were on his arm. "Where is everyone else? What happened with spawn?"

Xisuma shook his head, still watching the data scroll, squinting to read in the overly bright lighting. "This isn't where we are supposed to be. Something went wrong with the portal."

"Where is your armour? X?"

He let out a shaky sigh of relief, confirmation that all of the Hermits had successfully spawned into the world scrolling across the tiny screen. "We're all here. Wherever here is."

"Howdy, Cleo! And well met again!"

Already annoyed at the lack of his helmet and visor, Xisuma pulled up a floating holographic display to work from, ignoring additional voices and chatting around him. This was his responsibility, something he had to fix, and ensure that his friends were safe wherever they were in the world. As quickly as he could type, he disabled achievements, location, and chat for each Hermit, locking them all to his Admin code, effectively hiding them from anyone else querying the same data. He raced an imaginary timer, counting down the ticks until he had locked the last one. 

"Done, jeez," he muttered to himself, closing out his display. "Now what-"

Cleo stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "Are you done ignoring me now?"

"Um, sor-"

"Xisuma. Void. Where. Is. Your. Armour?"

JoeHills chuckled lightly from beside them. "I think she's a little peeved at you, X."

Xisuma took a deep breath, immediately regretting it when his throat burned but pushing on anyway. "I do not know, Cleo. I also do not know where everyone else is, what world we are on, or if we are even safe to stand here asking questions." He took a step back from the zombied Hermit, finding both Joe and GoodTimeWithScar standing close by. "Is this all of us right here? Good, we need to head north towards the rest of spawn to meet up with the others, it should be just outside of this biome." He absently rubbed his throat. 

Scar shrugged. "Okay, if you're sure. Punch wood on the way?"

Joe moved towards the nearest oak tree. "Looks to be late afternoon. I would suggest grabbing only enough for basic resources and then making haste to meet up and get to shelter before the sun sets."

Xisuma nodded and took the lead, though Joe and Scar kept stopping to take down trees and craft up tools and weapons instead of keeping up. He found himself squinting through the trees checking for mobs spawning in the area, as well as any Hermits who may have moved this way.

"Ooh, grass patch! I'll grab seeds! Excuse me!" Scar pushed past Xisuma and disappeared into the trees. Xisuma stumbled, caught off guard by the jostling. Cleo followed Scar with her stone sword equipped while Joe stopped at Xisuma's side. 

"I guess grass is GoodTimes for Scar at the moment." Joe said quietly, giving Xisuma a moment to recover his balance. "Do you need assistance getting to our destination?"

Xisuma pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. "I would rather make sure everyone is safe first, before worrying about me."

"And I am sure that we are safer with you being one hundred percent." Joe chided him. "How long are you okay without the armor or helmet?"

"Not long enough." He dismissed Joe's query, instead looking around for Scar and Cleo. "We need to find the others, get to a safe place so I can do some Admin work."

"More than you've already done?"

"I don't see a spawn island, so yes." Xisuma snapped at him. "This is an already occupied world, we shouldn't be here. I need time to fix this, and I am already wasting that time!"

Joe watched in mild shock as Xisuma stomped off, Cleo and Scar returning at the sound of his raised voice. Joe beckoned them to follow their Admin.

Scar fell into step with Joe. "Is he mad at us?"

"No, Scar." Joe could not keep the sadness from his voice. "He's not mad, he's just afraid."

*****

False blinked at the plains biome around her, Mumbo just a few blocks away. Her communicator quietly beeping away, she took in the area. Mumbo stretched in the sun, looking around for their friends.

"Well this isn't quite what I was expecting." Mumbo punched a couple of clumps of grass. "I thought we had a spawn island again?"

"And it's nearly midday, instead of dawn." False was puzzled, a growing sense of unease curling in her chest. "Where is everyone else? Xisuma is usually here to meet us."

False looked over at the redstoner as he froze, staring at something behind her.

"That is definitely not right… since when do we start a new world with structures?"

Turning around, False spotted what he was staring at. A stone and oak tower stood in the distance, easily standing tall over the nearly level plains. She could just make out a couple of figures approaching it from the opposite direction, one of them in a white lab coat.

False shrugged, but started walking. "No clue on the tower, but that looks like Cubfan. Let's meet up with them and then figure it out."

By the time they reached the base of the tower they were joined by Tango and BdoubleO, coming up from the south.

Tango waved at them, then at the tower. "What in the nether is this? Who built a tower already?"

False shook her head. "Not a clue. Where is everyone else?"

TinfoilChef called down at them from the top of the tower, making them all look up. "Better view from up here, but we got more groups heading this way."

Bdubs started circling around, looking for the door. "Pretty basic tower, if you ask me. No variation in the stone brick at all. And it could use some terraforming, maybe even a path showing where the door is- found it! Pah, it doesn't even  _ have _ a door."

Tango laughed and pushed the builder through the stone archway. "Okay, we get it. It doesn't meet your fine standards. But let's maybe check out the inside?"

Mumbo was already halfway up the stairs before he froze again, one foot still in the air. "What if it's booby trapped?"

Cubfan met them coming down. "Already checked for that, Mumbo." He looked around at the group. "Anybody getting messages after spawning in? I can't seem to send anything."

False checked her own device. "I've got nothing other than a couple of spawn notifications. Did all of us make it?" 

TFC called out from the top level, his voice easily carrying across the stone. "Couple more Hermits coming in from the northeast, if someone wants to meet them."

Tango was still at the base of the stairs, so he turned back toward the doorway. False, Mumbo, and Bdubs continued up to the top of the tower, joining TFC in looking out over the short wall.

From up here False could see the approaching Hermits, Grian's red sweater and Stressmonster's pink jacket easy to spot. As they got closer she could make out the gold creeper-face of Impulse's tshirt.

"Um, guys?" Bdubs sounded puzzled, and TFC hurried to his side of the tower, which overlooked an equally boring stone bridge. He pointed out to a group in the distance, a ways off from the bridge but moving slowly their way. "Are those pillagers?"

"Can't tell from here, but they're a fair distance away.” He dismissed it for the moment, his mind on other things. “Guess we’ll find out when they get closer. Until then, time enough to collect some resources.”

As the next group of Hermits joined them, False and Stress elected to stay on the tower, keeping a lookout for more of their friends, as everyone else tromped back down to ground level.

Grian tossed a chest down in a random spot, and started dumping his inventory. "We got a little bit of wood. Who wants to start on some cobble for picks?" He ignored Mumbo’s grumbling about ‘chest monsters’.

TFC chuckled. "Way ahead of you. Hand me a couple of sticks, I've already got a half stack of cobble."

Cubfan laughed at Grian's incredulous look. "And the mining master strikes again. Come on, I'll go down with you and we’ll get a branch mine going.”

Mumbo shrugged, trying to hide a smile at Grian’s look. “Come on, Grian, we may as well help out. First day grind and all that.”

There was already a roughly hewn staircase heading down, between them they expanded it, Mumbo making it two-wide as Grian chipped away at the head-banging ceiling, grumbling about aesthetics. By the time they reached diamond level TFC and Cub already had a starting point carved out for starting storage and mining shafts.

“Still have some planks for chests, Grian?” TFC pointed to a space along the wall. “We can get started with whatever you have.” He tossed a good dozen more picks onto the ground. “Hope you haven’t lost your calluses, boys, we’ve got work to do.”

*****

They had forgotten about the little band roving in the distance. Chatting in the sunshine, wondering about the new world they had spawned into, they had lost track of watching for more people.

A shout from the not too distant bridge brought them back to the edge of the tower. Keralis and Zedaph were sprinting across the bridge, iJevin behind them with a simple stone sword, waving it threateningly at an armored party of four who were chasing them. With no armor he wasn't standing his ground, just giving them enough reason to pause before following the other Hermits.

False ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over TFC with an armful of iron armor and swords.

"Hey there, False. I have-"

False cut him off. "Can I have some of this? We have company, and they don't look friendly."

TFC dumped the lot on the ground. "Take what you need, I wasn't expecting to need much before dark."

From the open archway they could hear the yelling moving closer. "Armor up, grab who you can to fight. Hermits incoming with a possible raid party." She tossed on an iron chest plate and helmet, taking up two swords. "I'm going out."

She ignored the chatter of Hermits coming up the stairs, running for the bridge. Zed and Keralis were dodging arrows now, Jev dancing between what appeared to be guards, making them turn and twist to follow the seasoned pvper as he led them in circles, distracting them from their unarmed quarry. False reached them as they were splitting up, almost within swords-reach of her Hermits. Her sword clashed against another, meeting dark eyes under a low helmet. They didn't speak as she pushed them back with a flurry of blows, expertly weaving through a weak defense. She spun to hit another guard in the back, tossing him off balance and into the sand beside the bridge posts.

There was more yelling behind her and the unknown guards were starting to retreat. Sparing only a glance she was both relieved and concerned to find more Hermits partially armored up rushing the party. She backed off of her opponent, allowing him to turn and run for the bridge.

Tango's voice carried over the field. "TNT incoming!"

Somewhere was the muffled thud of a waterlogged blast, and then sizzling overhead before the concussive force of TNT exploding in midair.

"Fall back, they've got a cannon! Fall back!"

She was ducking around people, pushing Hermits back from the bridge and listening for more blasts. Her sword dealt a glancing blow to another unknown player, stunning him long enough to grab Stress off of the ground, her armor dented from the blow that had knocked her down.

They weren't prepared for this- fighting players was not the same as fighting first-night mobs. Someone needed to take charge and get the Hermits out of this fight.

False started a head count. "Everybody into the tower." she directed. "Pull anyone who needs help inside." She ducked under Stress' arm, pulling her away from the fight and back towards shelter. Moving again to the doorway, she caught the shield that Cubfan tossed at her. "Has anyone seen X or Joe?"

Another TNT blast shook the ground around them. Clashing swords rang out from across the bridge again, and False ran to the sound. Tango and Impulse were holding off several guards, so that Zedaph and Keralis could help each other away. False added her sword to theirs until the guards were in full retreat, placing TNT blocks behind them to destroy the bridge.

"Back to the tower!" she directed, making sure that every Hermit was clear. She waited for the stragglers to catch up to the wounded and made certain they were as safe as could be to make it back.

"Falsie!"

She turned to see Rendog waving her down from the south side of the tower, he and Iskall supporting an unmoving Docm between them. They were hurrying towards her, she pointed them towards the tower entrance and angled to meet them. "This way, we're gathering together in one place." Reaching them, she took up the rear guard, slaying a single zombie that had been following the slower moving Hermits.

"Where'd you get the armor, Falsie?" Ren asked as they moved. "We all spawned in with nothing."

False shrugged, still scanning the area around them. "Where else? Put a group of Hermits in one place, and we'll get to work. TFC and Cubfan went straight to mining, there'll probably be iron armor enough for everyone when we get back."

Iskall laughed, and she was glad to hear the happy sound after the confusion of the last hour. Doc stirred between them, they paused a moment to let him get back on his feet. Moving again, they reached the tower, finding iron doors now blocking the entrance. Impulse and Tango greeted them with diamond swords, but held the doors open for them to move inside.

"That's almost all of us, False." Impulse told her as Tango moved the others downstairs from the main floor.

"Who's still missing?"

"Joe, Cleo, Scar, and Xisuma." Impulse shook his head. "I can only hope that they're all together. Night is falling, and unless they're hiding out or underground..." he trailed off, not wanting to jinx their missing friends.

Cubfan came back up the stairs, stone dust covering the creases in his labcoat. He nodded to False. "More armor for you," he tossed out several sets of armor to the group, "and a better sword." False swapped out the diamond for her iron sword. "Sorry there's no enchantments on it, but we've just got diamonds, and yet to get leather or paper. Mumbo is working on obsidian now, if we want to talk about trying to get into the nether?"

False nodded. "That’s for later. Is everyone else downstairs?"

"iJevin and Zedaph went up top with bows, we're ferrying up arrows from a skelly spawner we found. Hoping to get an enchanted bow or two soon for them." Tango volunteered, reentering the main floor. "Any word from our Admin yet?"

"Nothing. I -"

A commotion outside drew their attention back to the doors. Someone was tripping over bushes and sounded like they had run head-first into the iron doors. 

"H-hello? Anyone friendly inside?"

"Scar!" Tango reached up to flick the lever, opening one of the doors. Outside, Scar sat rubbing his head, half sprawled in the dirt. His jacket was ripped, bruises already darkening along his arms. 

"Oh my, I'm so glad to find friendly faces." Tango and Cub helped him up, and began to pull him inside, False taking up a guard position between them and the open field. "Wait," he pulled back from their helping hands. "The others are behind me, I was trying to find us a place to hide."

"Show me." False was joined by Iskall, now fully decked out in iron armor as well. 

Scar pointed to the west, just past the treeline. "We got stuck in the deep woods, and mobbed by monsters. None of us had anything but wood tools yet."

False pushed him back towards the door and Cubfan. "Go inside, we'll bring them in. Iskall, care to join me?"

The warriors jogged towards the forest, on alert for mobs spawning in the darkness of the roofed forest. Long practice let them both move quickly and quietly in the heavy armor, shields at the ready.

Sounds of zombie groaning reached their ears, and Iskall was the first to spot the mobs clustered around a half-constructed dirt hut. They split up and confronted the zombies from opposite directions, jumping for critical hits, aware that any misses could encourage social spawning around them. The last zombie fell, and they could hear the shushing and whispers now from inside the makeshift shelter.

False kept her voice low, unable to make out the voices inside. "Hullo, the hut. Any Hermits inside?"

"Oh, thank the stars." Joe's voice was nearly prayerful, and Iskall stepped back as someone on the inside started punching through the dirt. The block finally broke, and Joe stood in the single wide doorway. Like Scar, his arms were covered in dirt and bruises, but his smile on seeing friendly faces made them smile in return. "As happy as I always am to see a fellow Hermit, I am even happier right now to see armor and weapons, even pointed at my good self." He chuckled as Iskall lowered his sword without sheathing it. "Perchance would you have fared better with shelter? I've wounded to take care of, but unable to-"

False grabbed him into a hug, careful of her armor. "Just glad that you're okay, Joe. We have almost everyone else together and safe." She released him, trying to look around into the dark inside of the hut. "Who is with you?"

"Cleo and Isuma, but he's not doing so well. We lost all of our armor coming to this world. And then found the mobs, of course."

False nodded. "Yeah, we had the same issue." She called into the small space, hearing the rustling inside. "Come on out, we have a safe space for now, but we need to move before night falls."

ZombieCleo exited first, holding onto her own dismembered arm in her main hand. One side of her face was blistered, and her orange hair burned away. She just nodded at the armored Hermits, then turned back to help the next person out.

Xisuma stepped out after her, pale faced and squinting in even the falling light, holding onto Cleo's arm for support. His head was bare, pale brown hair falling around his face, and dressed in only a black top and pants.

"X, your armor." Iskall voiced their concern, moving to assist him.

Xisuma shook his head. "Gone, somewhere in the portal, I think. It's hard to think, I'm not…" He trailed off, blinking at the ground.

Cleo pulled his hand back onto her good arm, tucking it into her elbow, then glared at the others. "Safety first, then questions."

False nodded, stuffing her questions and concerns to focus on the trip back. "Iskall, bring up the rear, I'll lead. Let's go."

They moved as swiftly as they could, Cleo and Joe at Xisuma's side. He let them guide him along with his eyes nearly closed, watching only the ground directly in front of his feet. Cleo kept up a whispered commentary beside him, when False tried to listen it sounded like encouragement and breathing exercises.

They encountered a handful of mobs on the way back, dispatched easily by Iskall and False. At the treeline False made a run for the visible tower they had taken for shelter, checking the surroundings as she approached. The door swung open before she could knock, Tango waiting for her, now also sporting an iron chest plate and boots, along with an enchanted stone sword. 

"Any luck?"

False nodded, catching her breath. "We've got everyone now, but gonna need help with X and Cleo. Can you come with me?"

"Just let me get someone to take my post."

iJevin came down from the tower, an enchanted bow at his side. "We have more- oh, hey, False."

"Hey, Jev. Can you watch the door? I've got to help the stragglers inside." Tango propped the iron door open.

iJevin nodded. "Be quick, it's almost full dark."

Tango and False darted back to the treeline where the others waited. Cleo was crouched over Xisuma when they arrived, trying to convince him to stand again from where he sat against a tree. Not stopping to ask questions, Tango knelt in front of their admin, turning to present his back. 

"I can carry him, we have to go."

Joe and False lifted a shaking Xisuma onto his back, Tango gripped under his knees and took off at a jog back to the tower. False supported Cleo, Iskall and Joe falling in behind her.

The half moon was rising in the sky, casting dark shadows from the tower as they made for the bright iron doors. Again it opened before anyone could knock, though Impulse and Scar slid outside as they entered. 

False let Cleo follow the others downstairs, then turned to check on the two outside. She found Impulse and Scar placing dirt and cobblestone in the dark, using it to disguise the lower part of the tower, both hiding the entrance and sealing them inside.

False tapped Impulse on the shoulder, and he passed over several stacks of cobblestone. She filled in spaces below the cobble as Scar worked, to support the disguise and prevent anything from spawning inside the fortification. They worked quickly and quietly, then moved inside. Cubfan closed the iron doors behind them, removing the lever afterwards. 

"Don't try to open the door without me or Doc," he warned. "Deadman trap is set beneath it now."

False gave a thumbs-up, removing her helmet and chest plate and storing them in her inventory. "How are we set up?"

Cub grinned tiredly and threw her a lazy salute. "No idea where we are or what world, but we're set up comfortably at the moment downstairs. Zedaph and Tango have the first night shift on the tower, we'll switch out at midnight with the next shift." He caught her up to speed with their progress as they descended the stairs. "Stress and Ren have kitchen duties, we got seeds and some veggies from zombies in the caves, so they're in charge of food. TFC of course has charge of the mine- we're set with two levels at and just above diamond level, mining in pairs for safety. So far we haven't run into anything underground that doesn't appear to be naturally generated."

Several layers of stone beneath the tower foundation passed before the staircase opened up into a carved out living area, stone brick and polished diorite decorating the floor and walls. A couple of pieces of wood furniture were spread around into semi-private seating areas, some already occupied by quietly chatting Hermits.

"We got lucky. Being the kind of hoarders they are, Scar and Joe both managed to have several stacks of wood and some saplings. Along with sugar cane and mushrooms, so someone should be working on manual tree and cane farms soon."

Cubfan returned Mumbo’s wave, who appeared to be guarding a sleeping Grian and Iskall on one of the larger couches. He continued walking with False, heading for another spiral staircase. "Not much for beds yet, we've got some hay bales being gathered for comfort, but we have to wait for daylight now before trying to find sheep." Another three layers of stone separated these floors. "No one seriously injured, but we set aside a couple of rooms in case it becomes a problem. Otherwise sleeping quarters on this level." 

"I heard we have a skeleton spawner, any other dungeons found?"

Cub shrugged. "Last I heard one skeleton, one spider, and two zombie spawners. But we've got potatoes, so I have no interest in eating zombie flesh. May come in handy if we can find wolves in the wild though."

"Yeah." False was distracted, seeing torch light and shadows coming from one of the designated 'injured' rooms. Cubfan followed her gaze, lowering his voice.

"Do you know what happened?"

False shook her head. "I've never known him to take his armor off. I mean, I've seen him remove the helmet here and there, but otherwise…" she trailed off.

Cub gave her a nudge towards the room. "Cleo is in there, too, why don't you go check in on them. I'll check on the mine and then I'm for some shuteye. Don't forget to get some rest yourself."

False watched him descend yet another staircase before turning back to the room. She could hear low chatter from inside, smiling when she recognized the melodic lilt of Joe's poetry. Not sure what to prepare herself for, she walked up to the doorway and peered inside.

Nearest the bare torchlight, Cleo sat holding her loose arm steady as a quiet Rendog carefully sewed it back on with spider string. Her hair had been brushed back, and the earlier burn on her face had faded to just another scar on her zombied skin. At the end of the room, Joe sketched with charcoal on a piece of paper while describing some sort of scene to the still form of Xisuma laying beside him. His eyes met False's when she stopped in the doorway.

"And the fair warrior False joins our quiet little troop." His smile was evident in his voice. "Are you here to escape the bustle of our lovely tiny castle?"

False gave him a small smile in return. "It's been a very...interesting day. How are you guys doing?"

Cleo snorted indelicately. "Better now that I don't have to dodge creeper explosions. Stupid thing blew my arm off, and then I had to nearly beat the next one to death with my danged arm. Oh, just go on," she directed to Ren when he paused in his work. "Its not like it hurts, just sew it up so I can get some feeling back in the hand."

From the far wall, Xisuma chuckled without opening his eyes. "Cleo, stop teasing him. Not everyone is comfortable with you waving your own dismembered limbs around."

False stepped into the room, moving to sit against the side wall where she could see everyone. "I hate to ask, but do we have any idea what happened?"

Joe spoke up first. "Aside from spawning into a possibly occupied world in the midst of a war? Or are you referring to those of us with mechanical or cybernetic parts that don't seem to work?"

Rendog tied off his work, encouraging Cleo to test her arm. She flexed it a few times, pulling her fingers into a fist, and the stitches held.

"Thanks, Ren. At least I'm just flesh and bone, even if it is dead." Cleo slid over to where Xisuma lay, resting her newly restored hand on his forehead. "How's the breathing, X?"

"Just fine, for now."

False kept her voice quiet. “Are you.. okay, Xisuma?”

"I hear you and Cubfan took charge of getting everyone safe and secure here." His voice was strong, though quiet. "I'm not sure what went wrong with the portal, but I'll see what I can do to fix it."

Cleo tapped him gently on the forehead. "That's not what she asked, X."

He cracked his eyes open, brilliant violet seeming to glow in even the low reflected light. "But we're okay here, right?" He blinked slowly, squinting at Cleo. "Said... said we were safe. That's what she asked?"

Cleo placed her hand over his eyes, watching his face relax. She didn't answer him, but he didn't speak up again. Cleo looked to False, shaking her head slightly. 

Before they could speak again, Keralis poked his head into the room.

"Hello, beautiful peoples." He looked around, entering and beaming his smile at everyone in the room. "We have blankets, just white ones made from the spider strings. We didn't dye anything, but it will be more comfortable than bare stone. I pass them out to everybody before they gone, yes?" His arms were full of the fluffy wool. Ren thanked him and accepted a blanket, then excused himself from the room. Keralis passed several blankets each to Cleo and False, then seated himself beside Xisuma. "Shashwamy okay?" He lifted a spare blanket over his friend, careful not to jostle him. "I only have wool blanket now, but can probably get a void blanket soon. That make Shashwamyvoid feel better?"

Xisuma gave him a small smile, barely nodding. "That would be nice, thank you, Keralis."

Keralis nodded happily, turning to False. "Cubbie says we found stronghold underground, but need ender eyeballs to activate portal. We work on that tomorrow, yes?"

False tilted her head. "I'm not sure I follow. Or that we're prepared for a dragon fight yet."

Keralis just smiled. "No no no, no dragon fight. Dip the wool in the portal, absorbs void essence. Will help Shashwamyvoid until he gets the armour back." He looked to Cleo, who nodded in agreement. "Is good, very good."

Cleo held out her free hand for another blanket, slipping it over Xisuma's eyes and removing her other hand. "Keralis, would you sit with X while False and I go take a walk?"

"Of course, of course. Girls go chat, I keep Joe and Shashwamy company."

"You're a beautiful person, Keralis." Cleo blew him a kiss.

"No,  _ you're  _ beautiful." Keralis giggled and shooed them away.

False stood and followed her out of the room. She held her questions, but beckoned to Cubfan and TinfoilChef when she spotted them in the hallway. Cleo saw the gesture and sighed. "You'll want to grab Iskall and probably Doc, too, if he's up. Unless you want to make it a full Hermit gathering?"

"Probably not," False answered quietly. "Cub can you- thanks." He flashed a thumbs up, and moved away to find the other two.

They picked out a smaller room, this one with oak planks making up the walls, and a plain banner covering the entrance to give them some privacy. TFC moved to take a seat at the far side of the room, placing down a few more slabs for seating. Cubfan and Docm joined them a moment later, Doc's mechanical arm in a sling.

Cleo took a seat and launched right into it. "Xisuma doesn't know what happened, but somehow our portal got rerouted to an occupied world. It's an older version, but the numbers are getting mixed up in his head, so I'm not sure how primitive we're looking yet." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room. "Xisuma spawned in without his void armor, as most of you have probably heard by now. Yes, he can breathe overworld air, no, it's not going to kill him. Immediately. However." She huffed when Doc started to say something and he subsided. "However, he is not going to be a lot of help without it. Is anyone familiar with oxygen overdose?"

Cub and Doc both nodded, she didn't seem surprised by that. "We've all been to the End at some point, so you remember how thin and light the air is?" Cleo directed the question to False and TFC, who each nodded. "Essentially, overworld air is denser and has more oxygen in it, which for X is way too much. He has to be careful about his breathing, and even simple exertion will make him lightheaded, confused, nauseous, and prone to dizzy spells or passing out." Cleo chewed on her lips as no one spoke. "Though I lied a bit. It can get worse; affect his vision, make him confused, give him seizures or suffocate him at the worst. It's not pretty, but the effects would reverse quickly in the End or with his helmet." She took another breath, trying to stay calm. "Some of us have known this from a long time ago, but Xisuma doesn't like to bring it up. I, I don't know if we should make this common knowledge, or just let it be known that he is.. sick."

Cleo sat back, letting the Hermits in the room take in the info. She rubbed at her eyes, it wasn't often that she regretted being unable to cry. 

Doc chuckled humorlessly. "Well, I guess that's a bit more serious than some cybernetics not working." He gestured to his arm and face. "I've still got my sight and one good arm, nothing wrong with the rest of me, or my mind. I was hoping some redstone would help, but." He shrugged. "I would say for now, just let the others know that Zizuma is not well, and we can deal with the rest if and when we need to."

“Eh.” Cubfan didn’t look happy with the suggestion. “I don’t like the idea of lying about something like that. How about we tell anyone who asks privately, and everyone agrees to not make a big deal about it.”

False nodded at that. “I’d be more comfortable with that, no offence Doc.” Doc shrugged and waved away her concern. “Okay, I'd call that settled for now, thank you, Cleo, for letting us know."

TFC cleared his throat. "So with X down, how are we planning to handle his duties?"

Cubfan raised a hand for their attention. "I say we keep it as simple as possible. We set ourselves up to take charge already, may as well keep it going." He looked around at the others for confirmation. "False in charge of defense, Doc in charge of redstone, TFC in charge of resources, and I'll work with X and Joe about getting out of here."

Doc nodded. "Sounds like a plan. You have any experience with admin?"

"Some. Familiar enough with the syntax and workspace commands, at least. If I can get the access, I can manage small summons." He shrugged, keeping his voice light. 

"Of course, that's assuming we have any admin access in this world."

Cleo nodded at Doc. "X does, he was doing something as soon as we spawned in. But we had other things on our plate so quickly, and then," she waved towards the other room. "All of that. Which reminds me - this world is set to hardcore, so no respawns. We'll want to get the word out asap."

False couldn't suppress a groan at that. "Oh man, we've been super lucky so far, then. And let me guess, no idea what happens if one of us dies, since we shouldn't technically be here."

Cubfan shrugged. "Unless we could check the world file and see if players are purged or reset to standby, no way to test it. Though that gives us more reason to try a nether run if we're gonna want potions."

"Wouldn't we run the risk of spawning or linking a portal to an existing one, though?" TFC brought up. "I'm a fan of potion brewing, but I'm not sure we want to take that risk. I would prefer trying to get out of here as fast as we can, and leave this world behind us. We have armor and basic food, if we could catch a couple of cows or even chickens we'd be set on that front."

False rubbed her forehead, swallowing a yawn. "Let's bring up the idea of a nether run tomorrow, I think we've gotten plenty done so far today. I definitely need some sleep before I have to make any more decisions."

A round of agreements and everyone was exiting the room, off to check on friends and find a comfortable place to sleep away the night.

Cleo returned to the dim room with her friends, finding Joe and Keralis already tucked into blankets, quietly talking over what she assumed was yet another book of poetry belonging to their resident wordsmith. Xisuma was still laying where she'd left him, but with the blanket now under his head and his communicator open, squinting at the screen. She picked up a blanket from the small pile left and wrapped it around her shoulders, then sat cross-legged beside Xisuma.

"Now what are you doing?" she asked quietly.

Xisuma sighed. "Trying to find what linked us here instead of our original destination. And why hard written codes got deleted in the transport."

She tapped his forehead gently. "Not even going to pretend I know what that means. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

He shrugged, keying in another query. "Don't usually sleep much anyway. This is more important right now."

"Uh huh." Cleo watched his fingers move over the keypad, occasionally holding the small device closer to read whatever it was sending back. "Would it be easier to sit up to work?"

"If the room would stop spinning and making me nauseous, sure." 

It was said so matter of factly that Cleo almost nodded before realizing what he had said. "X?"

He lowered the communicator, finally turning his head and meeting her eyes. "Cleo, I don't have a lot of time, I know this. This world is not safe for the Hermits. I need to make a way back, or get us all to the world we were supposed to be at. There are some things that only I can do, and that’s not me being proud about it."

Cleo hung her head. "M sorry, X. Just-" she sighed, and met his gaze again. "Just don't forget to let us help where we can, okay?"

He took one of her hands and squeezed. "I will. Thank you."

Cleo moved further along the wall, propping herself up in the corner, and settled in for a long night.

*****

The next day was a flurry of activity. So many Hermits in one place with a chance to chat, the de facto leaders were hard pressed to keep everyone busy and quell the oddball rumors that kept popping up. 

Iskall had the idea to use their mining tunnels to create maps of the immediate area, hoping to spot either man made structures, or a clear area to search for passive mobs. He and Stressmonster teamed up for the project, returning filled maps to Impulse each time they returned to the tower.

Mumbo and Rendog worked on the tree farm, sharing stories of builds and remembering mishaps from past farms as they tirelessly grew and chopped, occasionally stopping to chat with Scar as he ferried up bonemeal to them.

TFC, Cubfan, and Zedaph took armor and a silk touch pick each to explore an underground ravine, returning with stacks of ores and obsidian.

Every other Hermit took turns in the watchtower with a bow, or grinding out levels at the spawners, enchanting and churning through books and anvils to create quality tools, weapons, and armor.

Lunchtime found many of the Hermits gathered on the second level, enjoying jacket potatoes and baked chicken courtesy of Zedaph. (Who enjoyed telling anyone who would listen how he managed to get a pair of chickens to jump down into the ravine so he could breed and "mother them". Stress made him a crown of feathers when he came back with half an inventory full of eggs and raw chicken. His blush lasted hours.)

False finished her hot lunch and joined Cubfan and Doc, who were going over the collected maps. 

"So, where are we at?" She took a seat across from them, looking over the zoomed out maps laid out across the wall. 

Cubfan pointed out a couple of features across the maps. "Our tower is here, just east of what appears to be the spawn chunks. Other than the bridge over to the next main island, we have no other visible structures for several hundred blocks." He slid over copies of two more maps that were not displayed. "To the west about an hour's walk are several structures surrounded by stone and cobble walls. We may not have been far off the mark thinking we had spawned into a war." He flipped over another map, this one at normal resolution. "These here appear to be manual TNT cannons. Based on the height and structure of the wall here, both Grian and Joe are placing the build to be medieval-style fortifications."

Doc brushed crumbs from his sling. "There is another similar build further north of that one. Looks like two sides playing at war. Not sure if we came across a patrol when we spawned in, or if they got the notification about us joining the world and came to check it out."

"I'm not sure which theory I like less." 

"Well, if they are living in hardmode, they would have no reason to maintain a connection with worldspawn. Which may be why they moved so far out. This little tower could have been just a starter build to survive the first few nights."

"Still find it odd they did no mining here. We didn't run into any other tunnels or shafts outside of normal world gen."

Cubfan shrugged. "TFC acknowledged that if the inhabitants are so focused on their war that there is no mining, it's possible that they're not interested in the end or nether."

Iskall and Rendog came over to their corner, pulling up a couple of stairs and slab seats with them. "Are we planning a nether run? Pretty sure Mumbo is getting ready to kill for some quartz." Iskall cackled, gathering some minor attention and fond smiles from around the room.

Ren punched his shoulder. "Dude, we spent all morning swinging axes, if you keep teasing him he's gonna toss you into that tree farm and chop you up."

False kept a sigh to herself, but started nodding as she met eyes around the room. Soon enough they had expanded their table out to encompass nearly every Hermit in the room.

"Okay, I'm just going to throw this out here, because people keep asking." False started. "Show of hands, who will volunteer for a nether run, knowing that we're under hardmode restriction?"

"What resources are we looking for?" asked Tango. False was not surprised to see both of his arms up.

Cubfan answered. "Blaze rods, for both brewing and eyes of ender. Quartz and glowstone are lesser priorities but worth collecting anything easily accessible. Magma cream if you can find it for fire resist."

Impulse elbowed Tango. "No noob deaths allowed this time."

"Any need for wither skeleton skulls?"

Cub and Doc exchanged shrugs. "Don't.. think so?" Cub responded. "I have no interest in fighting a wither, and can't see what we'd need a beacon for other than provoking an attack or giving away our location."

Doc nodded. "Looks like we have volunteers then. Tango, Impulse, Iskall - I'm sure we don't have to tell you to be careful. How soon do you want to go?"

Iskall looked around to the others named by Doc. "Dunno about you guys, but the sooner the better?"

Cub jotted down some quick notes. "I'll gather up armor and supplies for everyone going, and we'll set up a safe place for a portal. Meet downstairs by the mine entrance in about ten?"

Impulse also requested cauldrons and water buckets, then the volunteers were heading downstairs for their mini adventure.

"So, any updates on what happened or getting home?" Grian asked, tugging at the sleeves of his sweater.

ZombieCleo spoke up from the back of the group. "X thinks that something in the portal path generation was corrupted, and linked to this world instead of our planned destination." Several Hermits made room for her and she moved forward to sit beside Grian. "From what I understand out of him and Joe, X's ability to travel worlds can also override private worlds not  _ specifically  _ locked to him, which is how we got dumped here." 

"Does he know how to get us back?"

Scar placed a friendly hand over Cleo's. "How is our Siszuma doing?"

"You know," Cleo gave him a friendly glare. "I have been trying to avoid that question. Thanks, Scar."

"I am just fine for the moment, thank you for asking."

Everyone turned to greet their Admin, who had been sitting silently in a dimmer side of the room with JoeHills. He winced lightly at the raised voices, but otherwise nodded and waved. "Sorry to be a cause of concern to everyone." Xisuma gave the gathered group a small smile. "We are working on a portal back to our last world, that will be easiest. The.. um.." he seemed to lose track of the thought for a moment before shaking his head and continuing. "Sorry. The programming takes the longest, for both the portal and path. It should take around a day or two to plot that out, and then we will be on our way."

"So, do we know where we are? Or whose world we crash landed in?"

Xisuma tilted his head, and rattled off a long string of numbers, a tiny smirk in the corner of his mouth. "Knowing  _ where _ we are is the easiest part. Retracing the path back is a bit more complicated without an established portal." He rubbed at his temple, closing his eyes. "Open world, one-dot-ten version, hardcore mode, pvp enabled, no mods. No whitelist enabled, no restrictions, two Admin plus ten other players. Current locations…" His voice trailed off though his lips were still moving. 

Several Hermits exchanged concerned glances. Joe tapped Xisuma's hand, startling him out of his trance. "I think that should be good for now, right?"

Grian groaned loudly, pulling everyone's attention. "Dangit, Scar! That's why I couldn't get the andesite stairs I wanted." He mock-punched the other builder. "It wasn't a broken crafting bench."

Scar laughed at him. "It could have been, how was I to know? Maybe you were just out of practice."

Conversations turned to other matters and more teasing as they broke off into groups leaving the level. Several went off to relieve those in the tower on guard duty, others returned to their work, discussing what they wanted to do first when they got back “home”.

Grian approached the map wall, looking over the areas they had covered. "Did I hear that we found a stronghold somewhere?"

TFC handed him another map. "Out about 600 blocks to the north of here. We broke the silverfish spawner since we were looting the area. Are you lookin’ to go with Keralis to make that blanket thing he was going on about?"

False followed their conversation with one ear but looking over at the dimmer corner of the room. Keralis and Joe were having a low voiced discussion while Xisuma was just staring at his hands in his lap. Keralis reached out to get his attention once, and it was an obvious effort for Xisuma to focus enough to answer him. After a few minutes Xisuma stood up and walked away without speaking, moving slowly and unsteadily, but under his own power. Joe and Keralis followed at a short distance behind him.

"Kid moves like I feel some days."

False brought her attention back to find TFC also watching their Admin move downstairs. "None of us are kids anymore, TFC." she replied.

TFC laughed quietly. "All of you are still kids to me, False. Always will be. Worried about X, though. Keralis has a good idea, but dunno if they're gonna be able to pull it off. Or how much it'll help."

False shook her head. "I have no idea, and that scares me." She looked around the room, finding everyone else gone other than herself and the eldest Hermit. "Right now I'm not sure about anything. I'm not an admin, TFC. I don't mind taking charge for a minute to help in an emergency, but this is way over my head." She lowered her voice, not wanting to voice her fears too loudly. "I'm afraid for X, and us. I don't know how we'll get back if something happens to him."

"Well, we're doing a fine job so far." TFC gave her a one armed hug from his seat. "We've got a good group here, just gotta keep our spirits up. Everyone is chipping in to help, including Xisuma. Right now we've just got to keep treating it like an unexpected adventure."

*****

Tango was the first through the nether portal, checking the surroundings of their nether spawn. The bleak landscape of netherrack interspersed with pools and falls of lava coalesced around him as he stepped out of the portal. He gave the world a moment to complete its generation, scanning the ceiling above the portal for any pockets of falling lava. 

Cobblestone in hand, he pillared up the side of the portal, placing a quick shelter alongside to shield it from any stray blasts or attacks. From his perch he watched zombie pigmen spawning in the surrounding chunks, going about their business milling and roaming around. Pillaring a bit further, he squinted through the heavy fog, searching for landmarks or any player-made structures. 

Tango returned to the netherrack ground, stepping back into the portal. On the other side waited a small group of Hermits.

"Took you long enough." Impulse embraced him before he took more than a step away from the noisy portal. "How's the spawn?"

Tango nodded to Cubfan. "TFC was right, I don't think they've been to the nether at all. Portal is in a good location, and got new generation when it connected." He knocked his shoulder against Impulses. "Think we have a fortress nearby, spotted a possible tower through the fog."

Iskall laughed, spinning his sword in hand. "Sounds like we're ready to go then. Everybody good?"

Tango grinned. "I'm ready. We good to go, Cub?"

Cubfan shook his head, smiling at their eagerness. "Just remember to get yourselves back in one piece, boys. We'd rather do without than lose one of you."

"Ah, we will be fine." Iskall saluted him and stepped into the portal, followed quickly by Tango and Impulse. "Not our first rodeo, right?"

Cunfan waited for their teleport to complete, absently slaying a zombie pigmen that stepped out of the portal after them. 

Impulse led the way towards where Tango thought he had spotted the fortress. "Is it just me, or does the nether seem different?" He placed torches as they went, every fifty blocks or so placing his version of a "compass" back towards the portal.

"Well, it's an older world, right?" Iskall kept his head on a swivel, watching the netherrack around them and keeping the other two to his blind left side. "We've gotten used to the ravines and caves, this is like, old-school nether."

Tango grinned, spotting the fortress first. "Hah! I told you we'd be lucky here. Decent size, too."

Impulse hefted his shield up, dodging a pigman that kept crossing his path. "Do we stick together or split up to find nether wart?"

Iskall pointed to the far side of the fortress as they approached. "Blaze spawner up there, partially buried in the netherrack. Would be a good place to farm blaze rods, if we check for wart first?"

Tango paused near the edge of the netherrack, looking down at the lava lake below. "Anybody see another way around, or are we going to have to bridge over?"

The far side of the fortress jutted out of a large netherrack mass, but the walkways fell short on their side, leaving twenty or so blocks for them to cross over the lava lake.

Iskall grabbed a stack of cobble and equipped his own shield. "As the handicapped Hermit, you guys cover me and I'll bridge out. Just tell me if I need to run." He sighed good-naturedly, crouching out over the edge. "And for goodness sake, don't hit me off  _ please _ ."

Impulse and Tango readied their bows to cover his back. As he worked Tango widened the pathway he placed while Impulse continued placing torches. They reached the walkway without incident, quickly moving to light up the area. While blazes and pigmen would spawn regardless, skeletons and wither skeletons would be the most dangerous under these circumstances. Old hands at this, they worked their way quickly through the fortress, looting chests and lighting it up. Iskall found the staircase with nether warts, harvesting the warts and soul sand while Tango fought off a lone blaze guarding it.

"Okay, got the warts." Iskall split the goods into three parts, each of them taking a portion 'just in case'. "On to the spawner?"

Impulse nodded. "Should be just to the north of this area. How many blaze rods do you think we need?"

Tango grimaced. "For brewing just two or three. But Keralis was wanting eyes of ender for the End portal, so that would be…" he closed his eyes, trying to do the quick math.

Iskall laughed at him. "Good grief, you two. Twelve eyes for an End portal, so six rods. We need at least eight of them minimum. Anyone have looting on their sword? I've got sharpness three and smite one."

"Eh, I have looting two and knockback." Impulse offered.

Tango blew him a raspberry. "Looks like you're it- I have flame and sweeping edge. Funnel them into a drop shaft?"

Impulse nodded, already mining out nether bricks beneath the spawner. “I’ve got the cauldron and a bucket of water for stray fires, I’ll be fine.”

Iskall grabbed his shield again. "I'll go back up top and block off the exposed side so they don't start flying off on us."

Tango clapped his shoulder. "Just remember their melee attack is stronger than their fireballs."

Iskall rolled his eye. "Yeah, dude. I know. How about you watch out for ghasts, I have no idea how good my archery is right now." With that he cackled and pillared up from the walkway, cobble in hand.

Tango moved a bit away from the other two, placing more cobble up as a shield from the nearest fortress crossway, building in a small shelter on each side. From where he worked he could hear the blazes smoking and clunking, then the metallic clanks as Impulse started attacking. Iskall jumped to the top of Tango's cobble box, looking down at him.

"Are you building your own fort down here?"

A ghast cried in the distance and Tango grinned. "Figured I may as well make myself useful while we wait for Impulse. Want to practice your archery while dodging fireballs?"

Iskall cackled, equipping his bow. "First one to get a ghast tear wins?"

The trio spent about an hour at the fortress in the heat, dodging fireballs and sniping skeletons. It took a while to lure a ghast close enough to the fortress to get it to drop its tear on the walkway instead of over the lava. Iskall may have gotten the first tear to drop, but Tango made the first successful collection. By the time they were running low on arrows, Impulse had finished his harvesting and was ready to head back.

On their way back they took a couple of detours for glowstone, along with scooping up any easily accessible quartz they came across.

Returning through the portal, they found False guarding the area.

Tango tossed her a lazy salute. "Successful mission, sir! Potion ingredients collected, personnel returned only slightly singed!" Iskall was comically poking his fingers through a burn hole in his sleeve, just past where the armored chest plate ended. 

False smiled tiredly. "Well done, guys. I'm glad everyone is safe. Can one of you bring the resources upstairs to Joe so he can work on potions?"

Iskall headed upstairs with the goods, storing away the heavy iron armor. Tango and Impulse waiting for False as she disabled the portal.

Iskall found Joe and Grian chatting in the kitchen area. They both looked over as he came up the stairs.

"Mr 85, was your quest for nether procurements successful?"

Grian rolled his eyes and leaned over the counter making grabby motions. "Please, tell me you have something for us to do. I've been banned from any more building."

Iskall laughed and started emptying his inventory. "Well, if you want to check for a stack of ender pearls, we have blaze powder for the eyes of ender Keralis was looking for."

Grian practically vaulted the counter. "On my way!" 

Joe smiled, helping Iskall sort ingredients from materials. "He wanted to build up the tower into a proper battlement, until he and Scar started discussing his dragon build from Hermitville." Joe gathered several of the soul sand and wart. "After that, no one wanted to let either of them anywhere near building materials."

"Well, that's our gremlin for you, always getting into something." Iskall crafted up a chest and started dumping the items for potions into it. "I miss shulker boxes already. I'm gonna run this quartz over to Mumbo and Cub, see if they need any for redstone things."

Joe nodded. "You handle your particular magic and I'll get this nether wart germinating. And then see about the requirements for a brewing stand and glass bottles."

"Need glass for bottles, Joe." Iskall teased him. "I'll have Mumbo smelt some up if there isn't already. Pretty sure that man smelts sand in his sleep at this point."

Iskall bounced back down the stairs, covering a yawn as he went. Several "floors" down he spotted TFC and the storage area he was organizing.

"Hey Tinfoil, how goes the mining?"

"Pretty well when you young'uns don't get too bored doing work the old fashioned way." TFC hefted another stack of iron ore into the furnace opposite the wall of chests. "Pretty close to enough diamonds to deck out the lot of us, as long as we're not picky about enchantments on it. Definitely plenty of iron and a decent amount of gold to hold us for a bit." He wiped his hands on a well-worn piece of wool. "Don't think ya came to chat though - who ya lookin' for?"

Iskall gave him an easy grin. "Well, I'm looking for some glass, and dropping off some quartz. And then looking for a quiet place to nap, cause I have been running non stop since this morning."

TFC knocked the butt of his pick against one of the far furnaces. "Should be glass in this one, or check with Cubfan, he was smelting some earlier."

A cool half stack of glass was ready and waiting, Iskall took half of it in case it was needed elsewhere. "Any smooth stone available? Need just a couple slabs for a brew stand as well."

The requested blocks were tossed his way. "Figured someone would want em eventually. At least we didn't have to double smelt the cobble to get it."

Iskall grinned. "Don't get too used to it. We'll be zipping along to the next world update soon enough."

Iskall returned the items to Joe after finding him in a new room off of the kitchen. One corner was set up with half slab counters protecting an infinite water source stored in the floor beneath them. Iskall crafted up a brewing stand and placed it to one side.

"Did we have glass downstairs?" Joe already had an armful of ingredients, nearly dumping them onto the floor instead of the counter when Iskall stepped to the side.

"TFC is always prepared." Iskall bit back a yawn, then started filling bottles. "You need any help with the potions, Joe?"

"Thank you, but Cleo already insisted on supervising. You should get some rest before dinner. I can handle a couple of potions by myself." 

Iskall gave him a funny look as Joe tried to add glowstone into the brewer. "You're not.. experimenting with potions, are you, Joe? Because the first thing you need is the netherwart. Glowstone or redstone goes in at the end."

Joe paused, blinking at the brew stand. "Oh, yeah. I thought I'd try-"

"Joe, why do you always seem to need a babysitter?"

Cleo stood in the doorway, her arms folded and a smile on her face. Before he could answer, she interrupted him. "Just because you're bored doesn't mean that you need to invent new ways of doing boring things."

Iskall laughed as Joe blushed, flustered as usual anytime Cleo called him out. "Well you two have fun, I'm off to find a place to nap."

Cleo waved him off, and stepped into the room. She pulled the glowstone out of the brewer, placing in the netherwart instead. They worked side by side in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, waiting for the mundane potions to finish. Joe took a corner of the room to place down the soul sand and start another patch of wart growing.

Cleo finally broke the silence. “Joe, I don’t know what to make for X. We have the ingredients for both health and regen, but I don’t know what if either would help him.”

He turned to find her, arms braced on the counter and staring at the brewing stand as if it held all of the answers she wanted. 

“Cleo.”

“I don’t like this, Joe. I don’t like that we have three Hermits not at one hundred percent, and there’s nothing that we can do about it. And…” she trailed off, shaking her head.

Joe reached over her, placing a glistering melon into the brewing stand. “We have to believe that everything will work out, and keep working towards that goal. Let’s start with the health potion, and see what Isuma says about it.”

Cleo rubbed a hand over her face, turning away from the counter to lean against the wall. “That’s just it, Joe. X is pretty much out of it already. He’s either loopy and not making any sense, or he’s staring off into space and doesn’t respond to any of us in the room. He  _ can’t _ help himself right now, let alone getting us home.” She thumped her head back a couple of times, bouncing off of the stone brick. “I feel like such a horrible person for being worried about both things. Instead of just-"

“Cleo.” Joe placed a warm hand on her shoulder. “Take a deep breath, we can still help.” He glanced over at the potions waiting on the stand. “Let’s go with the glowstone for potency, and switch to the regen if that’s not enough.”

Downstairs they found Keralis and Stress sitting with Xisuma. He was laying on the floor again, his communicator open on his chest, but staring up at the ceiling, eyes half closed and unfocused. A tray of food and drink sat untouched beside him.

Keralis offered them a sad smile as they entered the room. "Hello, beautiful Hermits."

Cleo waved, since Joe's hands were full of bottles. "We've brought potions. Has he eaten anything?"

Stress shook her head, standing to help Joe. "No. He still either refuses outright or ignores us."

With his hands free now, Joe picked up Xisuma's communicator, studying the text on the screen. It took him a few ticks to translate, his eyes roaming from the screen to their Admin. 

Satisfied with what he found, Joe placed the little device back, and tapped twice on Xisuma's shoulder. Stepping away, he turned back to Cleo and Stress. "It appears that he is actually working, not just ignoring you. Which is a better sign, honestly, though he could have just said so." Joe picked out a potion from the tray and took a seat near Xisuma's hip.

"I tell people I want to work, and everyone insists that I rest." Xisuma blinked a couple of times, then turned his head towards Joe. "Now you're complaining that I manage to do both?"

Joe did his best to keep his voice steady, concerned that Xisuma had had to pause to take a breath every few words. "Considering that your friends thought you were comatose, be glad it's only a little complaint." He didn't give him time to feel guilty about it. "We have a couple of potions ready, if you think anything will help?"

Xisuma pulled himself up to a sitting position, bracing his back against the wall. "Any health potion is good short-term, regen would help stave off the damage." He accepted the first potion Joe handed him, giving the bottle a small resigned frown. "I do hate to use these in case we need them later." But he pulled out the stopper and downed the potion.

Joe nodded, pulling a second from the tray. "I do understand that, but the same statement I made yesterday holds true today." Pleased at the effects of the first potion, he handed Xisuma the next. "You are the least expendable of all of us, even as we wish that burden needn't be on your shoulders."

Xisuma smiled fondly at him. "Thank you, Joe. Though I do have an idea or two to help with that." He glanced down at the potion in his hands, recognizing the sheen. "Dare I ask how many of these we have?"

"Enough for now, and we can get more if needed."

Cleo snorted from beside Stress. "Just take the damned potion, X. We have a couple more tears in storage, and plenty of glowstone if you'd prefer a stronger dose."

Xisuma took the regen potion more slowly, stopping part way for a coughing fit. He waved off any help, drawing a deeper breath and finishing the potion. Joe accepted the empty bottles back, storing them for later.

Stress placed the tray of food onto Xisuma's lap. "I expect at least half of that to get eaten, mister." Not waiting for a reply, she grabbed Cleo's hand and pulled her out of the room. 

Grian ducked his head around the corner as soon as the girls were clear. "Uh, hey guys." He gave a little wave, spotting Joe and Xisuma sitting on the floor. "Can I steal Keralis for a bit? We've got a run to make."

Keralis popped his head up from the bed where he had been dozing off. "I'm awake, I'm awake." His newly mussed hair over perpetually wide eyes made him look more shocked than usual. 

Grian giggled at the sight. "Come on, Keralis. You, me, and Jev get to go on an adventure. See you guys later!" 

Xisuma sighed softly in the suddenly quiet room. "I already miss having that kind of energy." He looked down at the tray Stress had left him, picking out a couple of carrots and some bread. "I appreciate the potions, Joe, thank you again for the help." 

"I'll leave the potions here, please take them as you need. We can always get more.”

“Are Iskall and Doc around?”

Joe tilted his head to the side. “Iskall just returned from the nether run, he was planning to get his own nap. Are you needing them for something?”

"A second pair of eyes on the code. I know Cubfan is busy, can you see if Doc is free to help me out for a bit?"

*****

The trek out to the stronghold went by quickly with chatting and a bit of mining as they widened the tunnel while they walked. The group found the stronghold already well lit and looted, so it was only the matter of negotiating the maze to locate the empty End portal room. 

iJevin set the last eye of ender into the portal frame, standing well back from the edge. The end portal snapped into existence, dropping the temperature in the room several degrees.

"Should we place something over the top so no one falls in?"

Grian set up a couple of fence posts over the portal. "That should keep us out, right?"

"As long as you don't stick a hand or foot in it." iJevin warned. "Remember, the End portal is an instant teleport, not like a nether portal. You go in and there'll be no getting you back." He looked around, finding Keralis at the back of the room. "So what do we have to do?"

Keralis inched forward, his eyes locked on the swirling horizontal portal. "We need blanket filled with void to help Shashwamy." He pulled a half stack of wool from his inventory. "To make, we hold blanket in the portal until it absorbs it."

Grian shrugged. "Never knew that was a thing, but sounds easy enough."

Keralis shook his head. "Oh no, is very difficult. Blanket gets very  _ very _ heavy, usually falls through the portal and gets lost in the void." He shook out a blanket and handed one corner to Grian. "You help me with first one, yes?"

Grian took the offered corner and moved over to the end of the portal frame. "Just the edge of the blanket, or the whole thing?"

Keralis just smiled at him, gripping his corner with both hands. "Try it, just the edge. You'll see."

iJevin watched from the stone brick floor, amused at Keralis' stance, bracing his side against the fence post before nodding to Grian. Grian was trying not to laugh as he lowered the edge of the blanket down. 

"Okay, here goes...whoah!"

They all watched in amazement and disbelief as the portal face tried to  _ crawl up _ the blanket before Grian lost his grip, grabbing onto a fence post to keep himself from touching the surface. Keralis snatched his own hands back as the wool dropped and disappeared into the portal.

"I tell you, not so easy. We try again, and this time hold harder."

Grian laughed. "Okay, okay. Not as easy as I thought. Wow."

Several dozen tries later they almost had it. They had created a small platform one block down from the portal just for leverage against the weight. It then took all three of them to hold the wool without dropping it into the portal. 

It was an eerie sight to watch the void of the portal take over the wool, oozing across the material before sinking its weight in. The portal broke with the snap of shattering glass, leaving the frame empty, the eyes of ender disintegrated into dust.

iJevin pulled the last corner of the wool onto the side platform, more than happy to drop it.

"Well this is definitely not what I was expecting." Grian sat down beside their work, idly watching the slow swirl of void that appeared to still be moving across the blanket. "Now what?"

Keralis joined him on the cool stone, massaging his fingers. "Now wait until the void settles, then return to Shashwamy with it." He poked at the wool, slowly drawing his finger away and watching the dark matter try to follow it. "When it dries, will still be heavy, but not as heavy. Then we carry it."

"Just one is enough to help Xisuma?" iJevin did the same as Keralis, watching the odd slow movements along the wool as it dried out. Keralis nodded at him, poking at it again. 

Grian rubbed an edge of the drying fabric between his hands, feeling the weight and density of the modified material. "It's still going to be awful heavy to carry. I suppose we'll take turns carrying it back?" he sighed at the nods he received. "That's a lot of stairs back up to the tower, I don't fancy carrying it the whole way. I already miss bubblevators."

"Not to mention the 600 block hike to the stairs. Oh!"

Watching the blanket, iJevin caught the moment it set. What had been a continuous slow movement had stopped, the wool now a dark grey still image of an end portal. He stood and tried to lift it himself.

"You're right, Keralis. It's nowhere near as heavy as before, but I don't think I want to carry it the entire way back myself."

Keralis helped him fold it to a more manageable size for carrying while Grian cleaned up the fence posts over the empty portal frame.. "Everyone ready to head back?"

*****

“Xisuma, will you just sit down?”

Doc rubbed at his own temples, his eye starting to burn from staring at the code on the Admin’s screen. The dim text in the darkened room was hard enough to read, and then trying to translate it while Xisuma paced and kept a running commentary was bringing his patience to an end. 

"Okay, okay, let's take a break. There's-"

"We don't have time. I need to complete this." Xisuma's voice was hoarse as he paced back to the holographic screen. "We just need to complete the path, we're still missing two points to anchor it." Xisuma took over typing again, searching out data points that Doc only halfway understood.

Doc growled in frustration. "Fine. I'm taking a break, you do whatever the hell it is you're doing." He stood up and stalked from the room, not waiting for an answer.

He made his way up to the kitchens, grabbing a couple of baked potatoes and some mutton, waving Zedaph away when he bounced up from his seat. Doc took the stairs up to the top of the tower, sighing in relief at finding the sun still out, warming the stone.

"Hey, Doc!" Rendog and Mumbo were seated along the far ledge, bows laying on the brinks beside them.

Doc walked over and sat in a patch of sunlight, his mood already rising. "Anything actually moving out here?"

Mumbo shook his head while Ren just snorted.

"Nothing but the grass and the sun, my dude. What brings you up here? Working on your tan?" Ren teased him.

"Weren't you working with Xisuma on some kind of coding?" Mumbo asked. "Is that all finished?"

Doc finished off the snack he'd grabbed. "Not yet. It's a bit much to be staring at all of that coding, and I really only understand about half of it. I needed a break from it and Zizuma." Shrugging with his flesh arm, he turned it into a stretch, the warmth of the sun loosening tight muscles. 

Mumbo made an effort at visually checking the area before turning back to him. "How is Xisuma doing? I missed seeing him at lunch, but Grian stopped by to say they were going to get something to help?"

"I have no idea about that, Mumbo. But he's working hard to get us back home." He thought about it for a moment. "Honestly, other than looking tired and being cranky, he seems fine. Just as much of a workaholic as he always is."

"X always needs a nap, I swear." Rendog chuckled and stood, idly walking around the little tower. "Maybe we should look into promoting another full time Admin for the next world."

Mumbo looked between the two of them. "Is it really that easy?"

"Heck no," grumbled Doc. "And don't either of you dare to suggest me. Breaking the laws of physics is fun, I do not want that ruined by having to  _ fix _ what I break."

Mumbo laughed at that. "Well, when you put it that way."

"Yeah, guys." Ren grinned at the both of them. "Maybe we let someone more  _ responsible _ help out with admin work."

Mumbo choked on a laugh. "Oh goodness, my pumpkins." He had to lean against the wall, laughing hard. "I had to ask for access once to delete something like twenty four thousand pumpkins from a farm when the chunks got unloaded while I was afk."

"So, not Mumbo either." Ren giggled.

Doc smiled, the laughter and sunshine lightening his mood. "Thanks, guys. I needed a break, but I also have some work to finish. I'll catch you later."

Zedaph had several ovens going in the kitchen, baking up jacket potatoes and more mutton. They had a rotation going so that food would always be available if any Hermit needed a nom. He was also proud of the half dozen lopsided pumpkin pies cooling on the counter for dessert. But the kitchen was warm now, and he wanted a bit of cool air before people started crowding into the space.

No one else was in the sitting area, so he took the stairs to the next level down, sighing in relief at the notable drop in temperature. He had meant to just sit for a few ticks and cool down, until he noticed an unlit room with movement inside.

_ Oh no, did someone accidentally make a mob farm? _ The only weapon in his inventory was a stone sword from yesterday, but he could at least take a quick peek and then run for backup if needed.

The room was dark, lit only by the glow of several open Admin screens. Xisuma was standing in front of one, fingers flying over the screen, dragging data around, then paced between screens. Zedaph watched from the doorway in silence, always amazed by the form of magic an Admin could pull out of the world. 

Xisuma paused his pacing in front of one of the smaller screens, holding his hands a blocks-width apart. Purple and grey particles coalesced into a command block, and Xisuma pushed the block against the glowing screen, letting it absorb the text. Glowing now with a stored command, it was placed into a chest along the wall. Xisuma turned back and closed the now empty screen, pulling another towards him. The process was repeated and another glowing block was stored. Xisuma pulled up yet another screen, which cascaded data into several more data screens. He shook his head at something and stumbled, reaching out to catch himself on the glowing projection.

Zedaph jumped up and hurried to Xisuma's side, awkwardly catching at one arm as he fell forward. Holographic screens in the room disappeared, leaving them in darkness. Xisuma went down to his knees even with Zedaph trying to steady him, holding his other hand to his chest. 

Zedaph searched his inventory and came up with a torch, placing it in the center of the room to see. In the brighter light Xisuma's face was pale, eyes tightly closed in a pained grimace. 

Zed tried to make light of it for a moment. "You really shouldn't lean on the imaginary windows, X'suma." He watched in concern as Xisuma curled forward, his breathing uneven. "X? Are you-"

"No. Get…" his voice was barely a whisper Zedaph couldn't make out, starting to shiver and curled tighter.

Footsteps in the hallway made Zedaph turn towards the doorway. "Whoever's there, go get help!"

Doc stopped in the entrance. "What?" He took in the room at a glance, and hurried back out.

Zedaph pulled at Xisuma's shoulders, trying to get him to sit up. "Come on, X. Just sit up and breathe. It'll be okay, Doc went for help."

Xisuma abruptly fought off his hands, flailing to his side and rolling away. Zedaph froze in shock, watching mutely as Xisuma tried unsuccessfully to stand, finally crawling to the furthest corner, a continuous body shiver making his movements jerky and uncoordinated. He grabbed at his own hair, covering his head with his arms and curling into himself.

"Zuma?" 

"X!" 

Cubfan and Cleo ran into the room, startling both of them. Zedaph moved out of the way, almost bumping into Docm standing at the door.

Cleo broke the torch as she passed, plunging the room back into darkness. "X?" She approached him slowly, reaching a hand out to his shoulder. "Breathe out, okay? Full breath out, little breath in." She pulled his arms down, holding onto his shaking hands. "Can you look at me?" Xisuma shook his head, trying to pull his hands away. "X, look at me." 

Her voice dropped into what Zedaph privately called her 'no nonsense' mode. Xisuma flinched, but slowly raised his head in response, eyes glowing violet in the dark room. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, gaze drifting along the floor.

Zedaph bit his lip to not make a noise. _Like an enderman, that's so cool!_ _But also not cool, because something is_ wrong.

Cubfan was trying to coax Xisuma to stand, Cleo holding onto his hands and encouraging him. They barely got him upright when he started gasping and shaking. His eyes closed and his head snapped back, bouncing off of the wall behind him before crumpling to the floor. Cleo dropped to her knees to catch him, cradling his head. Xisuma convulsed on the floor for several long ticks, the Hermits in the room unable to do anything to help. 

A sound from the hallway caused Doc to step aside, pulling Zedaph with him.

Grian stood outside the doorway, arms full of a strange grey blanket, Keralis and iJevin behind him, looks of shock on all of their faces. "Are we too late?"

*****

Keralis was the one to spur the Hermits into motion, grabbing the blanket from Grian’s hands and directing Doc and Zedaph to carry Xisuma to a bed. Cleo insisted on no torches in the room, so Cubfan went to gather a couple of redstone torches for a dimmer light. They settled Xisuma’s unconscious form into a bed, his breathing erratic, at times still and then gasping, his neck and chest shaking with the force of it, hands twitching against the mattress.

Joe slipped into the room, iJevin behind him keeping any more Hermits out. Regen plus and instant health potions were coaxed into him, easing his breathing but not waking him. Cleo set up the brewing stand in a corner, already working on more potions.

"Isn't, isn't there anything we can do?" Zedaph’s voice was small against the door, eyes looking pleadingly at Joe and Cleo.

Joe took a seat, tilting his head to stare at the ceiling. "Honestly I have no idea." His voice was soft and regretful. "While I have some administrative access granted to me, I am not an Admin. What ails Xisuma is far and beyond my ken or capacity to remedy. No matter how desperately I could wish for it to be otherwise."

Keralis pulled the strange blanket to the end of the bed. “Shashwamy needs more than potions, now. This air not good for him to breathe." He looked pained, torn between helping and sitting back to try something else. "Void blanket will help, but have to.." he searched for the words.

Cleo sighed. "We have to slow his breathing." She ignored Keralis' nod and locked eyes with Cub. "It'll keep him cool, and act like a heavy weight, keep him from taking full breaths. In the long run it's better for him, but I can't.. I can't promise he'll wake up again."

"Is there a chance? That it will help?" Cubfan didn't hesitate when she nodded. "Do it. We'll figure anything else out later."

Keralis and Cleo spread the heavy blanket over him. Keralis pulled the void-soaked blanket all the way to Xisuma’s chin, tucking the edges up and beside his ears. He ignored the concerned voices behind him, focusing on his friend. Placing a hand on Xisuma’s chest, he gently pressed down, forcing the body beneath him into more shallow breaths, steeling himself against the twitches and spasms, keeping steady pressure.

It wasn’t until Xisuma’s breaths turned slow and shallow that he removed his hand and collapsed back into a waiting chair. Cleo gave him a sideways hug, and he rested his head against her shoulder gratefully. Keralis stared at the bed, blinking away wetness that made his vision blur. He tried to count the ticks between each rise of the blanket, losing count each time he had to wipe his eyes.

*****

“Who figured out the void blanket?”

Cubfan startled, turning towards the unexpected voice from the bed. Xisuma was blinking his eyes in the low light, breaths still as slow and shallow beneath the blanket as when he had been asleep.

“Keralis did, with some help. Apparently it took a couple of tries.” Cub watched him look around to several points in the room, still blinking. “Is the light level too high still?”

“It’s fine, thank you.” 

Cubfan tried not to watch Xisuma struggle for a deep breath, his eyes falling closed again. Having expected him to fall back asleep, Cub jumped again when he spoke.

“Do you have my communicator?”

“I, yeah, it’s here in a chest.” Cub leaned over to fetch the item for him. He held out the small device, only to realize Xisuma wasn’t reaching for it. “Um, need a hand?”

Xisuma smiled wearily. “Yes, please. Just need my hands free.”

Cubfan lifted the edges of the heavy void blanket, gently pulling Xisuma’s forearms out and placing them on top of the blanket. He waited a few ticks as Xisuma slowly flexed his fingers, hands trembling against the blanket.

Xisuma blinked his eyes open again, finally turning his head towards Cub. “Communicator?”

Cubfan placed it into his upturned hand, watching in amazement as Xisuma’s fingers flew over the buttons, entering commands until a holographic display popped up over the blanket. Data started pouring across the display, scrolling faster than his eyes could follow it.

Xisuma chuckled softly. “Just wish I could read it.”

“X?”

Xisuma shook his head minutely. "Can you call Joe in? Tell him to bring paper and a couple of books, if we have them." He thought for a moment, glowing eyes unfocused as he keyed in another command query. "Probably need Doc and Iskall, too. I believe I can restore their redstone connections to the world."

Cubfan nodded and left to get them. 

His body ached, and the urge to draw a deep breath was troublesome, but he pushed those feelings down to focus on the world connection.  _ We need a way home, sooner rather than later. I have the tools, but not the strength to build the portal. They'll need instructions and code to program it. _

Keying through his Admin commands more by feel than sight, he let the data flow through his senses.  _ Two other admins here, but they don't seem to have very strong connections to the world. There's no history in the world data of either of them making any effects or commands since the world was generated. I can only hope they don’t try to stop us from leaving. _

Hearing other voices approaching the room, Xisuma pulled himself back from the data. He opened his eyes to the brightness, blinking to try to clear the dark spots that obscured their faces.

He wasted no time, interrupting their chatter as they filed into the room. "Joe, I need your power to download information. Have you ever pulled files from data to paper?" He frowned at the sound of his own voice, able to only get a few words before running out of breath.

Joe tapped his chin with a book. "No. I can't say that I have. If you can explain the theory, I am willing to learn it in a hurry."

"Is that something that must be done, Zizuma? You should be resting." Docm and Iskall had moved to the end of the bed to make room for Cub and Joe in the smaller room. Doc was giving him a concerned frown. “It sounds like you’re out of breath already just talking.”

Not answering him, Xisuma instead brought up two more holographic displays, one handedly keying in a command on each before flicking them at the two redstoners. 

Iskall flinched at the screen flying at his face, bracing for an impact that never came. Doc fared marginally better, his screen expanding to cover his head and chest. Xisuma closed his eyes and focused, the command screens acting as a medium to force the update. They flashed and disappeared, and every Hermit in the room could hear the whirring of Doc's cybernetics booting up.

"That I can do for you now." He ignored their questions, pleased enough that his patch worked, even if it was power he didn’t have to spare. The heavy blanket that was pressing on his chest  _ was _ making it difficult to talk. "The next part is harder. Cub, you can translate basic data, correct?"

Cub nodded. "Nowhere near as fast as you, but yeah."

"Good. Doc, when you are up to moving, let False know to be prepared. If the world Admin discovers what we're doing they may move to attack us again." 

Doc frowned, but nodded as he removed his sling, flexing his cybernetic arm. Beside him, Iskall appeared to be recalibrating his diamond-chip eye prosthetic, moving his hand back and forth in front of it.

"Cub, I need you to hold this screen." Xisuma waved a hand at the holographic still scrolling along. "Just grip the side bar, don't let it close on you. You are now set as an Admin in this world." He held out his closer hand to Joe. "How many books do you have?"

"We found an unlooted stronghold library, so I've brought along half a stack. Is that enough?" He tried to place the book in Xisuma's hand, but the Admin grabbed his off hand instead.

"Keep the book in your main hand, switch to the next if it fills up. I am only going to get one try at this. Ready?"

Xisuma closed his eyes and fought against the weight of the blanket for one deep breath, letting the headiness of the air pull him under, into the deep code of the world. Disregarding the complaints of his body, he dove into his worldsense, pulling data and coding and information from the world core. JoeHills was an anchor, a tether to both keep him from diving too deeply and a conduit to record the data. He tried to pull sparingly at Joe's power, pouring more of his own waning strength into the effort. Gamerules, roles, player data, he grabbed every bit and byte of information he could, funneling it back through Joe to be recorded. Until the data around him was fading into gibberish, slipping through his fingers and just out of reach, the world fading into void around him.

*****

ZombieCleo was spitting mad. Doc stood guarding the door, keeping her in the little bunk room and refusing to let her back into the room to beat some sense into Joe and Cubfan. 

"I leave for five minutes and everyone goes crazy!" she ranted, pacing. "How could you let him do that?!" She spun on Doc again, frustrated when he didn't so much as blink. His red cybernetic eye just stared back, and she fought down a growl. "Gods, that man is so  _ stupid _ !"

Her back to the door, she didn't notice Joe enter the room, jumping with nerves when he hugged her from behind.

"Cleo, please don't be mad." His voice was tired and slurred, but he sounded pleased. "We got what we needed, should be able to make it home by breakfast. Back to our world, and some honest rest."

She turned in his arms, and then nearly fell over when he leaned his weight into her. "Joe Hills, don't you dare pass out on me." She helped him down to the floor and he managed to sit up, legs folded beneath him.

"Cleo, Cleo, it's fine. I'm just a bit tired, and X said to wake him as soon as we have the portal set. Well, he didn't  _ say _ it so much as implant the instructions in my brain and onto paper, but the point is-"

His bright blue eyes met her green ones when she placed her hand over his mouth, trying and failing to suppress an exasperated smile.

"Joe, you are such an infuriating man."

"Mfank mu?"

Cleo lowered her hand. "That is very much  _ not _ a compliment. Next time maybe warn a gal before she walks into what looks like a magical glowing circle jerk?"

She grinned in wolfish glee at the shocked look and deep blush that covered Joe's face and neck. Behind them came a squeal of laughter.

"Oh my god, Cleo!" Stress stopped in the doorway, bent almost double, laughing over a tray of food and potions. "I can't believe you said that!"

Cleo slid back from Joe, resting against the wall, surrendering to Stressmonster's contagious laughter. "I couldn't help it! I had to..I had to.." What started as hysterical giggles quickly turned to dry sobs. "I just can't… I wanna go home." 

Stress enveloped her into a hug, stroking her hair and reassuring her. "We're almost there, Cleo. It has been a really, really crazy couple of days."

Joe placed a warm hand on her knee. "I am sorry that we scared you. You're absolutely right, we didn't think it through or consider the consequences. And I'll admit I had  _ no _ idea what I was getting myself into."

Cleo snorted at that, her head starting to feel like it was stuffed with wool. "Other than trying to kill yourselves, what  _ did _ you do?" Stress hugged her tighter, and she let herself be rocked and soothed.

Joe smiled at them both. "Isuma copied the world file into written books, giving us all of the data we should need. He also gave us instructions on how to build a portal to get home, so Cub and Doc are going through that now.  _ I _ am about to fall asleep, much like my legs have already done. When was the last time you slept, Cleo?"

"'M a zombie, dun need sleep."

"Uh huh, and that's why you're snuggling me like a teddy bear, darling." Stress coaxed her to her feet and towards the beds placed against the wall. "Come on, luv, let's get you a nap, you'll feel better for it, I promise."

Cleo didn't have the energy to fight her, letting herself be led and tucked into a bed. Cracking her eyes open, she saw Joe crawling into the bed across from hers. He caught her watching him and smiled.

"Sleep, Cleo. Unless you're waiting for a lullaby."

Cleo pulled her pillow over her head, scrunching down into her blankets.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then. G'night, ZombieCleo. Don't let the endermites bite."

*****

By dawn the word was already out, that Cub and Doc were building up a portal to get back home with instructions from Xisuma. Farms were being emptied and TFC directed the filling in of the mining entrance. Hermits were hanging out in the kitchens or at the top of the tower, chatting and waiting for the word to leave.

False was in the kitchen helping Stress prepare lunch when Rendog came down the stairs in full armor.

"Uh, Falsie? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the locals are heading back this way."

False looked up from the hot loaves of bread she was slicing. "War party?"

Ren shrugged. "Can't tell yet, but there's a decent sized group moving towards the broken bridge. They're too far away still to see if they're armored up or not."

False swore under her breath. "Stress, can you- thanks." She handed off the knife, moving around the counter to follow Ren. "Who's on the watch tower?" She was equipping her armour as they took the stairs up.

"Quite a few of us, Tango spotted them first. Um," he gave her an embarrassed grin. "Mostly we were just chatting, not really paying attention. Sorry."

False clapped his shoulder. "We're all eager to get home, I don't blame you." It was easy to figure out what direction the group was coming from, as the several Hermits were all clustered on one side of the tower. False raised her voice, remembering to keep it light and teasing. "I sure hope no one is sneaking up on the other side of the tower."

Several Hermits turned and offered sheepish grins before making room for her. Looking out across the river, False spotted the group moving towards their tower. Her practiced eye picked out armor and weapons, and the heavy march of warriors loaded with supplies.

She picked out Hermits without turning around. "Grian, run down and tell TFC to be ready with armor and weapons on the main level. Impulse, notify Cub and Doc. They are behind the infirmary working on the portal, see if they need help or can give us an eta. Bdubs, check the sleeping bunks and make sure everyone is awake- send 'em up to the main hall or the tower."

Hermits were leaving to follow her orders, Tango, iJevin, and Rendog moving to stand beside her. They must have been the ones 'on duty', armored up and weapons at their sides. The incoming party was making good time, False estimated that they would reach the bridge within a couple of minutes. 

Tango must have been thinking along the same lines. "Do you think they'll rebuild the bridge, or just swim across?"

"They're carrying supplies." False answered. "Smart thing to do would be to rebuild for a quicker attack and retreat if things go south."

iJevin trained his bow sight on the oncoming group. “How close should I let them get before firing warning shots? I can hit them from the bridge if they reach this side.”

False shook her head. "No, we don't want to fight them, so let's not antagonise. Get everyone downstairs, see if that portal is up." She hesitated, watching the movement from the far bank. "Actually, have everyone stage by the kitchen- don't crowd the portal if it's not ready."

Tango nodded, heading off to catch the Hermits already making their way downstairs. iJevin and Rendog stayed on the tower with her, bows in hand.

Ren kept his voice low as the floor cleared out. "Are we really not going to defend ourselves, Falsie?"

False kept her head up and voice firm. "Only as a last resort." She met their eyes. "This is their world, not ours, and they're in hardmode. I would rather not take any lives we don't have to."

iJevin sighed and twirled his bow. "I guess that makes sense. Wouldn't be fair of us, really."

False gave him a small smile. "It wouldn't. I hope we can just leave them with a mystery after we've left."

Doc was fighting with the redstone. Xisuma's instructions were clear, but the setup made him want to cross his eyes and throw TNT into the mix.

"Seriously, Cub. Does any of this make sense to you?" 

Cubfan was running a finger along the diagrams, flipping pages of the book back and forth to check their work. "Not.. really? I mean, I get this circuit here, and the command relay here, but…" he trailed off, flipping another page forward. "Okay, I'm lost." He closed the book, waving it at Doc. "It looks more like a timer than a circuit, but I have no idea what it's supposed to be timing."

Doc growled in frustration. "Okay, let's step back for a minute, maybe let someone else check it. I keep wanting to fix it, but I am not sure  _ what _ I want to fix."

Cub nodded. "Sure, see if another redstoner will look it over, at least."

Footsteps pounded down the stairs, coming to an abrupt stop at the door, then Impulse was sticking his head around the entryway. "Got a group marching out our way, False says to armor up just in case. Need anything?"

Cubfan invited him into the room. "Yeah, can you take a look at the diagrams here, tell me if we set this right. I keep trying to understand it and now I can't tell."

Impulse gave him an odd look. "Um, sure?"

"I'll go grab armor while you two check the work." Doc grumbled. "This is why I don't do admin stuff."

Impulse chuckled and waved him off. "Okay, so that's why you want another set of eyes. Lemme see…" he took the book from Cub, quickly running through the setup. "This here should be a comparator, otherwise you look good. Do we know what this is for?" He took a step back to take in the whole relay.

"It's going to be our exit portal, we didn't place the command blocks in yet. Kind of doing this blind off of those instructions." he nodded at the book in Impulse's hand.

A rapid drumbeat kicked up within the stone floor above them, startling everyone in the vicinity. Impulse shook his head, handing the instructions back. "That's the perimeter alarm- we're running out of time. What else do you need?"

"Just Joe and Isuma, they have the command blocks and activation sequence." Cub glanced between the portal and the door, hesitating.

"I'll get 'em, then." Impulse clasped his shoulder. "You protect this, Doc is coming back with your armor. And apparently I needed the exercise." He flashed a grin, out the door a moment later.

Joe was filling his inventory with the written books, not wanting to leave any behind when they inevitably left the world. They would be deleted in the world-spanning portal before returning to Hermitcraft.

“Should I be packing all of the potions we have, luv?” Stress already had half an inventory of health and regen potions, in case the Hermits would need them before leaving.

“We may as well leave the rest, a cache at spawn never hurt anyone.” Pockets full, Joe turned back towards the bed, and their sleeping Admin. “I am hoping it doesn’t come down to a fight before leaving.”

Stress sighed. “Yeah. I mean, they’re just trying to protect their world, it’s not like we were invited here.”

The room was filled with drum beats, startling them both. Impulse was at the door only moments later. 

“Time to go, guys. What do you need help with?”

Joe took a deep breath, staving off the rising adrenaline. “Is the portal ready?”

“Ready and waiting for you.” Impulse confirmed. “And the cranky residents are right outside, so the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we miss the fight.”

Stressmonster was already tipping a regen potion into Xisuma, the heavy blanket pushed aside. A few ticks, and he was rousing as the next alarm sounded. Stress gave him a smile as he focused on her. “Time to go, sleepyhead.”

It took both Stress and Impulse to get him up and moving, barely pausing for Joe to push more potions at him. The noise of a Hermit gathering was filtering down from the kitchen into the lower level as they hurried to the portal. Xisuma broke away from them, taking in the portal and surrounding redstone. He nodded in approval, everything was in order.

Doc was waiting halfway up the stairs. "Are we ready?"

"Affirmative. Time to go home." Joe settled into the corner, keeping a close eye on their Admin. 

Doc disappeared up the stairs, calling out names, sending everyone down in as orderly a fashion as they could.

Xisuma braced himself against the wall, trying to blink away the encroaching tunnel vision and blurriness. The command blocks he had summoned were still in the little chest, humming away with power. He shook his head, world data starting to blend over his vision when he stopped concentrating. Not bothering to open the chest, he simply called them into his hands, and placed the charged command blocks in the corners of the portal, careful not to activate them. Joe was watching him, ready to step over. Cub already stood by with the last singing command block which would be placed as they left.

“Ready.”

He leaned against the cool obsidian, addressing those around him. "It will take several ticks for the connections to be made, no one goes through until I say." He winced at the sound of his raspy voice, but pushed on anyway. "Joe goes first to hold the portal open, Cub and I are last to support it on this side."

False started to protest, but the banging on the iron doors upstairs drowned her out. They were running out of time. Xisuma shook his head, meeting her eyes. "Has to be done."

He reached out to the obsidian, and activated the first command block by touch.

The portal snapped open and redstone activated, cycling through the command blocks. Xisuma kept his palm flat on the cool stone, following the far-off connection being established. He forced his breath out, holding it as he probed the portal, testing and securing it at each anchor point he had programmed. As the portal reached its destination he felt it strengthen, finally feeding power back into itself and stabilizing.

"Joe. Now."

Joe didn't hesitate, stepping into the portal and was teleported away. False and Doc funneled Hermits into the portal, even as boots and armor stomped on the floors upstairs.

"They're through the iron doors!"

Doc took a diamond sword from Jevin and took up a guard position at the blocked up doorway. "Form up and get in the portal. Everyone move!"

Hermits teleported, two and three at a time, False pushing Cleo into the portal ahead of her against her protests. Finally it was just Doc, Cub, and Xisuma left in the room with the sound of slowly breaking blocks as pickaxes dug through stone above them.

Xisuma waved feebly at the block in Cubs' hand. "Doc, portal. Cub." Cub nodded, listening carefully. "Place as we step into the portal, not before." He tried to swallow, his breath catching in his dry throat. "Has to go on powered redstone. Run on the other side." He pulled himself up on the obsidian pillar, moving in front of the portal. " **Now** Doc."

Doc gave him one last worried glare, then stepped through, disappearing into the portal. Cubfan moved to Xisuma's side, supporting and taking his weight. Someone was mining through the blocked doorway. Xisuma placed his hand on the command block, activating it, then stepped backwards into the face of the portal, pulling Cub with him.

Cubfan placed the glowing block atop the active redstone torch, meeting the startled eyes of another player above it as the cobble blocking the door was broken. The command block flashed like TNT as Cub's vision swirled out, and then it was the gut-wrenching fall of a world-spanning teleport.

*****

The season six worldspawn was a nostalgic but comforting sight as False materialized in the familiar portal, stepping out of the covered area and into the sunshine. Hermits milled around on the waterlogged stones, gathering for comfort, most eyes on the portal as more and more of them joined the world again. 

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when Docm stepped out of the portal, looking out and checking his surroundings. Iskall and Ren started towards him, but he was throwing out his arms like a barrier and hurrying away from the portal.

"Everyone get back!" He grabbed Ren and pushed him before him. "Away from the portal!"

False grabbed Cleo when she took a step in the wrong direction. "Don't."

The portal turned a sickly indigo, its normal swirls coming to a crawl across the face of it. Hermits moved into the water or towards the "Did you Die?" mini shop.

Cubfan and Xisuma in his familiar helmet and armor stepped out of the portal already moving, stumbling and trying to match strides as they hurried from it. The rising sound of hissing was the only warning they had - Cubfan shoved himself away from Xisuma, pushing them into the water on opposite sides of the path as the portal exploded behind them.

Scar and Joe were running towards Cub, pulling him out of the water and back onto the stone, Joe gently patting his back as he coughed up water.

Across from them, Xisuma was on his knees in the shallow water, fingers fumbling at the latches of his helmet. Cleo splashed into the water beside him trying to pull his hands away, calling his name with no response. He batted her hands away, pulling off the helmet with a wheeze, gulping in breaths of air.

"X! You just got that back!" Cleo snatched the helmet out of his hands, kneeling beside him.

"Not. Calibrated." Xisuma panted, trying ineffectually to glare back at her. "Couldn't. Breathe." He held out a hand, silently asking for it back. Cleo slowly held the helmet out, obviously mistrustful. Accepting it back, he turned it to the side, spinning the dial and adjusting sliders to its familiar configuration. With shaky hands he replaced the helmet, locking it back into place. He drew in a cautious breath, then another, sagging forward in relief, startling Cleo into reaching for him again.

"X?"

Xisuma patted the arm across his chest, feeling the tension of the last few days draining away from him. 

"Is he asleep?" Tango's voice seemed like it was coming from the end of a long cave. Cleo's laugh sounded sad but comforting as he relaxed further against her.

"Almost."

Xisuma felt hands lifting him, coaxing him up until he was draped over someone warm. Breathing easily for the first time in days, it was too much to fight against sleep anymore.

Cubfan looked around at the gathered Hermits, many either watching TFC rebuild the portal or hiding relieved smiles at their sleeping Admin.

"Welp, that was certainly a strange adventure." He smiled around at all of his friends, back in a world they thought they had left behind. And though the sun was high in the sky, other than the little mementos left near spawn, they had no armor, tools, or food in their inventories. He pulled out a box of ender pearls from the chest he had left and turned to address his friends. "I imagine it'll be a day or two before we try to head out again to the next world. Until then, how does a camp out slumber party at ConCorp grounds sound? We can promise lots of food and mob-proofed lawns, along with several attractions and plenty of villager trading available."

TFC laughed, several Hermits joining him. "Trust ConCorp to get the final say at the end of the season. Hope you boys are prepared for one helluva party."

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Comments and crit always welcome! And feel free to play with or ask about my headcanons. ^__^

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fluttering Chances and Catching Coattails](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24755632) by [Interjection](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interjection/pseuds/Interjection)




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